Urgent help with disposal of LiPo cells that are swollen
 

Hiya

Hope someone can shed light on this for me. I have 2 IP LiPos that are now both very swollen, one case cracked open. I had discharged them to as lower voltage as they will go, and now seem to have swollen up like mad.

Firstly I guess I need to how to neutralise the cells so they wont blow and secondly where i can actually take them to dispose of them ?

If anyone has the right info I really would be gratefull for your help

Cheers

john

Drop them in a bucket of very salty water,when they stop fizzing in a couple of days,you can pop them in the landfill bin.
HTH.
T.

without wanting to sound daft, how salty ?

Ta

Lipos in water.... I don't know if thats a good idea :woot:

Not sure if salt water would make any difference.

Id take them to your local recycling centre. They will take them off you.

Never over discharge your LIPOS that the main reason the swell.

1/2 cup of salt per gallon of water.

coleman that's the worst piece of advice I have ever seen you post
read the info in the link http://thunderpowerrc.com/PDF/DISPOS...-BATTERIES.pdf

The thunderpower link posted by i4n sound good. I'd recommend you follow those instructions.

Cheers,

-Will.

You Must Discharge as per Thunderpower!!!!
I think 2 weeks is excessive though if they are low voltage already just leave for a night or 2 in a bucket of salt water!
Never take to landfill unless fully discharged as they could start a fire!!!!!

I hear you're best off stabbing them with a knife as well before the salty water.

Sounds crazy I know :woot:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and that ladies and gentlemen is why lipos get a bad name.....

To be fair, our local recycling centre has a separate bin for "special" batteries. Laptop, mobile, etc etc. And that includes lipos

Anyone know how watertight our typical hard case packs are? And if the answer is very then how can the saline penetrate the actual cells to make them inert? Just wondering....

You can take them there AFTER you have followed the Thunder Power instructions. Those types of batteries have a low energy density compared to what we use. You won't find any of those batteries with ratings above 4000mAh (best laptop ones) and most are in the range of 800 to 2500 mAh. All are rated around 1C for charge and discharge.

Please follow the Thunder Power instructions, including leaving them in the water for two weeks. Two days is not enough, and just because they've stopped fizzing does not mean they are properly neutralised.

It doesn't matter what people think they should do if they don't understand the science. Thunder Power understand the science and they have distilled that into a simple set of instructions. HTH :)

the salt water, shorts them on a discharge through the terminals

Nope

...which is why you use a saline solution - water is actually almost an insulator compared to saline solution that conducts electricity better! The appliance of science... :)

What about life batteries? Anybody know the procedure for these please?

i always like twisting the wires together and throwing it like a grenade
sometimes its great , flames and smoke an all that
other times its a bit dissapointing and just swells up more so you have to throw rocks at it to make it pop
then its always good to dispose of it in a local fishing lodge or outdoor swimming pool

( still better advice than colemans offering i think)

with weather as it is. I would stab the lipo and enjoy the warmth. I done it, it goes out like massive flame thrower.

Just sell them on eBay like everyone else:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I read a thread and saw a you tube video thats why what I have to say TRUE!!

Anyway in the vid by URC I think it was they did just that and after 2 weeks there was still voltage in the lipo, not much I must say but still something in it to help kick start a flys heart maybe

Literally the worst advice about Lipos I've ever seen...

Salty water - 1 month - Council dump box.

Dont pierce it, even when its fully discharged, Lithium and air dont mix too well...

They are in a very salty bath right now anyway. Discharged them to remove as much voltage as possible before doing so monitoring for any further swelling. They where old lipo cells, so it wont hurt they are gone

Normally i never discharge the cells, unless they are charged full and dont get used, then its only a half discharge.

These ones just had had enough, only about 2 years old. My older Demon cells (about 5 years now) are still going strong.

I did say, "Not Sure"... jEEEZE!

I saw a LIPO get wet in a boat once, Flames the lot... Lithium & water is not normally a good idea...

remember maxx if your not really sure don't post, your post was wrong and inappropriate, and misleading mate

If the boat had enough water in it to make a LiPo wet, are you sure that the speedo wasn't affected and then the LiPo went up? Was it a cased LiPo like ours, or was it uncased like a 'plane? The information you posted wasn't any use, it doesn't contain enough information.

Water and electrics don't usually mix, but that does not mean that water on a LiPo is a problem. For us with our cased LiPos it is the reverse - TC and buggy run in the wet. TC runs with no undertray and water is everywhere, but that doesn't mean the LiPos are affected.

As bigred says, it is a misleading post. There are lots of people on this forum with little or no knowledge or experience of LiPos and you posts seem believable. As they are not, please consider bigred's advice; he seems to be a friend of yours. :)

Your not puting the lipos in water your putting the lipos in an aqueous solution, salt forms a solution in the water and the free ions from the salt that have dissolved in the water remove the charge from the lipo. the lipo doesnt short circuit as there is a full circuit from lipo to salt.

Getting a lipo wet in normal unsalted water would short circuit the lipo.

Thankfully the first info was right, doubled up by the info sheet as well.

LiPo's still soaking in salty water, and seem happy enough (no fire/explosions) :thumbsup: